Brake-operating mechanism for railway-cars.



No. 668,360. Patented Feb. l9, l90l. G. L. STEVENS.

BRAKE OPERATING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CABS.

(Application filed Oct. 17, 1900.

(No Model.)

a 9 k E b Ls la n U s 6 Q \B Q a T u Q 6 INVENTOR ww zP wg M W ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT rich.

GEORGE STEVENS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-TENTH TO OSCAR KINGSLAND, JR., OF SAME PLACE.

BRAKE-OPERATING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 668,36Q, dated. February 19, 1901. Application filed October 17, 190i). b'erial No. 33,353. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE L. STEVENS, of the borough of Manhattan, in the city of New York, in the county and State of New York,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brake-Operating Mechanisms for Railway-Cars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is an inverted plan view of an apparatus made according to my invention. Figs. 2, 3, and 4 are detail views of certain parts included in said apparatus.

This invention is designed for use upon street-railway and other railway cars. It comprises certain novel combinations of parts, whereby I provide a brake-operating mechan- 2o ism which is simple, strong, efiicient, and direct-acting and by which a very powerful pressure may be applied in the operation of the brakes and said operation performed with great facility and speed.

A is the body of a street or other railway car, shown on inverted plan or bottom view in Fig. 1. This body is provided in the usual manner upon tracks B at each of its ends, as shown in-the said drawings, the wheels of the 0 trucks being indicated at a. The trucks are provided with brakes, of which the transverse shoe-carrying beams are shown at c c, &c., said beams being provided with the usual or any suitable shoes 0.,arranged in due relation with 5 the wheels. The brake-beams and their adjuncts are arranged to move in relation with the wheels in the usual or in any suitable way. The brakes, their beams, shoes, means of attachment to the trucks, and the extent of their movement may be of any usual or suitable kind and being well known need no particular description here.

Upon the bottom of the car, preferably midway or thereabout between the trucks,

.4; is provided the novel mechanism which, in

connection with the brakes, constitutes my invention. As shown in the drawings this mechanism is attached to the car-body by means ofahanging frame or bracket 0, which is shown separately in Fig. 4 and which af Vided a turnbuckle n.

fords a convenient means for sustaining and retaining in position the mechanism aforesaid. This frame 0 is illustrated separately in Fig. 4:.

D is a horizontal swinging lever-bar or equalizing-bar, which is pivoted at or near its middle portion to bars (1, arranged longitudinally with the car-body and forming part of the frame (3. This lever-bar is so constructed, as shown in Fig. 1, that pulleys or rollers E and E are carried thereby, one on each arm of the lever-bar, as the latter is extended in opposite directions more or less transverse to the length of the car-body from the vertical king-bolt f, by which latter the Y lever-bar is pivoted to the cross-bars d of the frame 0 or, so to speak, to the car-body. The bars d of the frame 0 provide between them a space sufficient for two pairs of superimposed pulleys or rollers, one pair at each of the opposite sides of the lever-bar. The two of said pulleys at one, side of the leverbar are lettered the upper one g and the lower one h. These, as presently explained, cooperate directly with the pulley E. Similarly the two of said pulleys at the other side of the lever-bar are lettered the upper one 2' and the lower one is in the drawings, and these cooperate directly with the pulley E. The brake-beams of the brakes are connected with the usual or any suitable means for causing those at each end of the car to cooperate and to act upon opposite sides of the wheels in the usual way. As such means are well known in the art, they need no special description here. It is to be noted, however, that said mechanism at each end of the car is adapted to secure for applying power to the brakes the end of a rod or like device a, through which motion may be transmitted to the brakes. To each of the rodsu is pro- The point of attachment of the rod to the brake mechanism at one end of the car is indicated at 10 The like point of attachment of the similar rod at 9 the other end of the car is shown at m Provided to one of the rods E is a turnbuckle n, to which is connected a draft-chain F, which is carried back around the upper pulley g, the bars d, thence around the pulley [CO E of the adjacent portion of the lever-bar, thence around the lower pulley h, thcnce extended to and around the lower pulley t on the opposte part of the bars d, thence around the pulley E of the opposite arm of the leverbar, thence around the upper pulley 7c, and thence farther until it connects with a turnbuckle b on a rod it, which is connected with the brakes and their mechanisms at the opposite end of the car in the same manner as hereinbefore described with regard to the rod E and the brakes and brake mechanisms contiguous thereto.

The draft-chain F, where it passes the king boltf, has an elongated link'm, through which the king-boltf is passed, so that in the event of the breaking of the chain at one end portion of the car that portion of the chain at the opposite end portion of the car will be retained in position and enabled to actuate the brakes at such end of the car, notwithstanding the disablement of the brakes at the other. To one end of the lever-baris attached the brake rod 7.1. which is extended to and connected with the brake-stafi r, by which the rod is actuated in the manner usual with the brakerods of brake apparatuses in common use.

In the operation of the apparatus the movement of the lever-bar in one direction 'elongates simultaneously the two loops between the pulleyE and the pulleys g and h and that between the pulley E and the pulleys i and k, respectively, thereby shortening the longitudinal portion of the chain and by drawing the two rods E and u inward toward each other actuating the mechanisms of the brakes to apply the latter to the wheels of the trucks, a reverse movement of the lever-bar of course permitting said loops to shorten and in a proportionate degree relating the draft upon the rods and permitting the brake-beams with their shoes to move away from the car-wheels. As the chain connection extends from the brakes at one end of the car to those at the other and as the chain can move freely upon the several pulleys, it follows that the draft upon the brakes at the two ends of the car is automatically equalized and theirsimultane ous and equal action upon the wheels of the trucks is secured. The length of the chain may be adjusted by means of the turnbuckle provided thereto, as set forth.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The combination with brake-beams on the trucks of a railway-car, of a lever-bar pivotally connected with the car-body, pulleys carried by the opposite arms of the lever-bar, pairs of superimposed pulleys secured to the car-body and arranged on opposite sides of the pivot 0f the lever-bar, and a draft-chain looped about the pulleys aforesaid in substantially the manner described and having itsends attached to the brake-beams of the trucks at opposite ends of the car whereby the elongation of the loops by the movement of the lever-bar shortens the chain to actuate the brake-beams, substantially as herein set forth.

2. The combination with brake-beams on the trucks of a railway-car, a lever-bar pivotally connected to the car-body by a kingbolt, pulleys carried by the opposite arms of the lever-bar, pairs of superimposed pulleys attached to the car-body and arranged on opposite sides of the king-bolt, and a draftchain looped about the pulleys in substantially the manner described with its ends attached to the brake-beams on the trucks, of an elongated link provided to the chain with the king-bolt passed through the link, substantially as herein set forth.

- 3. The combination with brake-beams on the trucks of a railway-car, a lever-bar piv- GEORGE L. STEVENS. Witnesses:

DANIEL S. DECKER, JAMES A. WHITNEY. 

